Automatic fluid-pressure displacement pump



Nov. 6 1923.

C. B. PENDLETON Filed April 12 AUTOMATIC FLUID PRESSURE DISPL'ACEMENT PUMP 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 ATTORNEYS.

Nov. 6 1923. 1,473,512 c. B. PENDLETON AUTOMATIC FLUID PRESSURE DISPLACEMENT PUMP Filed April l2, 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 MWI-:NTOR

WITNESS. 675. P61707 65077.

. ATTORHETKS.

Nov. 6 1923. 1,473,512

c. B. PENDLETON AUTOMATIC FLUID PRESSURE DISPLAGEMENT PUMP Filed April 12, 1921 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 NVEHTOF?.

4M- 2 ATTORNEYS.

Patented Nov. 6, 1923.

CHARLES B. PENDLETON, OF DENVER, COLORADO.

.AUTOMATIC FLUID-PRESSURE DISPLACEMENT PUMP.

Application led April 12, 1921.

To a?? ir/10m it may concern Be it known that I. CHARLES B. PENDLE- 'ro.\', a citizen ot' the United States, residing at the city and county of Denver and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Automatic Fluid- Pressure Displacement Pumps; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to improvements in fluid pressure liquid displacement pumps.

Under certain conditions at least, and with or without minor alterations or adaptations, the improvements may well by employed broadly in analogous relations other than for pumping water, and for that reason the invention is not necessarily restricted to any limited field of use, still the particular improvements involved have been more especially devised with reference to use with large volumes of water to be pumped, under varying conditions and for varying purposes, and the invention will be described, therefore, with particular relation to the pumping of water only. For a clearer conception at the outset of the numerous advantages of the improve` ments and the varied spheres or ranges of utility, it may not be amiss to first briefly enumerate some of such purposes and usages, as follows:

The pumping from rivers, streams, lakes, deep wells, or equivalent bodies of water, for irrigation projects, aims or purposes; the pumping out of mines, pools or water filled and flooded areas generally, for reclamation purposes; the pumping to substantially higher levels for supplying lakes, reservoirs, canals, ditches or for other analogous purposes, in substitution for hydraulic rams or the like, and in fact wherever large quantities of water are required; and the maintaining of the requisite pressure throughout any system of water piping, wherein there is provided an air release valve in the discharge line, so that the drawing of water is immediately available at any regulable outlet in the line, owing to the constant pressure maintained throughout the same. ln the latter instance, therefore, fresh water the summer Serial No. 460,742.

may be obtained from the bottom of a well at all'times, obviating the necessity of an elevated tank or tower customarily employed for supplying such pipe line pressures, and incidently eliminating the objectionable feature ot' freezing up in winter, while in permitting of always drawing cool water from the bottom of a well instead of having to use warm or standing water. Furthermore, a simple installation may be associated with any well, making it feasible for suburbanites, or others in outlying or sparsely settled districts, and more especially farmers and ranchers to always have water readily accessible, under pressure, for supplying the home, barn, corrals, pens and other places locally.

In an earlier patent of mine, No. 1368528 of February l5, 1921, the invention was primarily devised for the pumping of oil wells, and embodies a liquid controlling foot valve cooperating with an operating fluid pressure controlling head valve, the control of which valvular elements as Well asesthe actuation thereof being both fully automatic, inasmuch'as the operating pressure line is designed to be generally open`to its source of supply, so that the pumping operations start up of their own accord just as soon as the oil in the well casing has risen to or above a certain level, and continuous pumping will only'cease when the oil level.

falls below that position.

In the instant application there is employed a unitary valvular element which controls both the supply of operating pressure fluid to the pump proper as well as the water supply thereto, regardless of the water level which is always sufficiently high, and to this extent the pump is likewise fully automatic when the operating pressure line is open to its source of supply. In another sense, however, in comparison with my aforesaid patent, it may be said to be only semi-automatic, inasmuch as the operating pressure line is not designed to be generally open to its source of supply, but is only opened thereto when it is desired to start pumping operations and is shut ofi' therefrom when the pumping is to be stopped. Hence the actual control is not wholly automatic as in my patent aforesaid, the necessities in oil pumping being under most confollowing disclosure, reference will now beimmediately had to the accompanying drawings, illustrating certain practical embodiments of the improvements, in which drawmgs- Figure 1 1s a vertical sectlonal view -through an extraordinarily large displacement chamber, lWith one arrangementof my pumping equipment projected upwardly therein, which is especially designed for pumping from lakes, streams or the like, the

displacement chamber being of substantially -greater length than height, and the casing wall thereof being broken away for conven ience of illustration; Figure 2 is a view substantially analogous to Figure 1, but 1llus- -trating a displacement chamber of greater height than width, requiring a substantial elongation of the pumping parts; Figure 3 is a view somewhat analogous to Figure 2, but with the valvular elements mounted from the top'ofthe displacement chamber, and reducing the length of some of the parts; Figure 4 is a view substantially analogous to FigureA 2, but with a cupshaped water control valve end and suitable .casing therefor; and Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view of a still further modified arrangement particularly designed for certain uses, when only a very small displacement chamber is requlred, as with very deep wells in which the water level stands up to an extremely high position. say approximately a hundred feet of more. f

As the broader features embodied in all of the illustrations involve substantially vthe same identical principles, and for brevity1 of description, the analogous parts in all of the views of the drawings will be indicated as far as possible by the same reference characters.

In this connection, the numeral 10 designates either the `rdisplacement chamber or the casing wall thereof, providing a water inlet 11, shown at the bottom thereof, and a Water discharge pipe or outlet conduit 12,

in communication with the lower portion .valvular member 14, the latter providing a peripherall portway 15 that cooperates with a pair of operating pressure line ports 16-17, in all instances, and with relief ports 18-19 in all instances excepting in Figure 5. These ports 16-17-18-19- are' disposed in complementary pairs, and preferably provide a threaded form of openings extending through the peripheral wall of the valve casing 13.

20 indicates the inlet section of an operating pressure fluid line that extends upwardly to a suitable source'of pressure fiuid supply,

:such as compressed air, and the flow from said source oi supply to said inlet section being under suitable valvular control, not illustrated, while 21 is the outlet section' of said operatingpressure tuid line, the discharge end of said outle section being in communication with said displacement chamber 10 towards the upper end thereof.

The exit end of the section 20 communicates with the ort opening 16 and the entrant end of tgiie section 21 communicates with theaport openin 17, which is oppositely disposed diametricay of the port opening 16, so that there is a gap or interrupted zone in the operating pressure fluid line through the casing 13.

22 indicates the inlet section of a pressure relief or air releasing conduit, the entrant end of which is in communication with the displacement chamber 10, towards the upper portion thereof, and thel exit end of which is in communication with the port opening 18, while 23 is an outlet section thereof, providing acommunicating conduit between the port opening 19 and the water discharge pipe l2. Analogously to the operating pressure fluid conduit, the relief' conduit also has a gap or interrupted zone through the valve casing chamber 13.

In all instances the lower end of the valvular member 14 terminates in a water inlet control valvular member indicated by thev numeral 24, iny Figures 1 to 3, as an ordinary flatseating element carried by a stem 25 depending frorii thc valvular member 14, while at Figure 4 the water inlet control valveis indicated at. 26 as an elon gated inverted cylindrical cup element, and

at Figure 5 as a closed cylindrical element 27.

lili

The arrangement of Figure 1 is primarily intended for use where the water is to be umped from a lake, stream or the like, in arge volumes or charges, and in this case the displacement chamber may well be of substantially greater dimensions horizontally than the depth thereof, the casing being adapted to be entirely submerged and supported substantially above the bed of the body of water. Although not shown, it is obvious that a suitable screen or grating may be associated with the inlet 11 to prevent fish, dbris or other substantial foreign matter from entering the displacement chamber. Such a screening medium may likewise be associated with the water inlet of any of the other structures. which latter however are more particularly intended to be lowered into wells.

In both Figures 1 and 2, it will be noted that the valve casing 13 is projected upwardly from the bottom of the displacement chamber, and t-he onlyreal substantial difference between these two structures is that in the structure of Figure 2 the displacement chamber is elongated vertically instead of horizontally. This will necessitate the elongation of its conduit sections 21-22 also, so that their open ends will terminate towards the top ofthe chamber.

Also in Figure 1 the valve seat 28, embodying the water inlet 11, is shown as being threaded into the bottom of the displacement chamber, and provides a spider element or open cage-work 29 at the inner side of the valve seat, Whereas in Figure 2 the valve seat 30 is shown as integrally formed with the bottom, although it may be as in Figure 1, and the spider support 31 is shown as of slightly different form but analogous to the open cage-work 29. None of these details, however, are particularly germane to the essential invention.

In Figure 3 the displacement chamber is vertically elongated as in Figure 2, but the valve casing 13 is suspended from the top of the displacement chamber, thus permitting of the shortening of the conduit sections 21-22, although requiring theelongation of the depending stem 25. There are other minor details of mounting, indicated generally at 32, but all of these 4little features will clearly appear from the drawings without further description.

In Figure 4, the arrangement is again substantially the same as in Figure 2 in point of dimensions, and somewhat like.y Figure 1 in the mounting of the water valve seat supporting the pressure control valve casing` 33 indicating the Water valve seat providing an annular seating recess 34, and 35 indicating ports or open`ings, equivalent to the open cage-work before referred to. In this figure, however, the lower portion of the valve casing 13 is substantially enlarged to provide a dash-pot-like chamber 36' for receiving the cup-shaped water valvular element 26, and 3T indicates relief vents or apertures for the chamber 36 upon the upward stroke of the valve 26.

The structure in Figure is somewhat analogous to Figure 4, although this modified arrangement is especially designed for wells where only a small displacement'chamber is required, as liereinbefore referred to, and the length and cross-sectional dimen:

sions of the displacement chamber may*V therefore be greatly reduced. In fact, the diameter of the casing is just suiiiciently greater than that of the discharge pipe 12 (the diameter of which latter may be substantially increased) to fully encompass all of the parts. In this construction, the operating pressure line section is contained within the discharge pipe 12, and the relief conduit 22-23, together with the associated port openings 18-19, may be entirely dispensed with.

There is a reduced portion or shank 38 connecting the valvular elements 14 and 2T, and an annular space 39 is formed to receive the projecting endof a stop screw element nor abutment 40.

In Figure 5 the unitary valvular parts are shown elevated, and the upstroke of the same is limited by the stop abutment 40 being engaged by the shoulder 41. The descent of the unitary valvular parts is analogously limited by the stop abutment 40 being engaged by the shoulder 42. In Figure 4, the upstroke is limited bythe shoulder 43 of the cup valve 26 engaging the shoulder 44 of its casing, while the descent is limited by the lower edge face of the cup shaped valve seating on the annular ledge 34. 1n Figure 3, the upstroke is limited by the valve member 14 engaging the plug 32, andthe descent in this structure, as well as of Figures l and 2. is limited by the Water control valve 24 striking its seat. The limitations of the upstroke in Figures 1 and 2 will likewise be apparent.

In all of the illustrations, at the end of the valvular descent, the operating pressure uid line 20-21 is maintained open by the peripheral portway -15 coming into registration With the port openings 16-17, While in Figures 1 to 4, at the end of the valvular upstroke, the relief line 22-23 is maintained open by the registration of the peripheral portway 15 with the port openings 18-19, and all of which features will be more clearly apparent after describing the pulsating operations vof v the unitary combined valvular parts, which operations will now be set forth. I

The same description of'operations will in substance applydto all of the figures, excepting with reference to the omitted parts of 'Figure 5. Refeiiring briefly to Figure l, therefore, and assliining that the displacement chamber Will have been filled with water and that the Water inlet control valve has in consequence become seated by gravitation, owing to the equalization of pressures withn and without the displacement chamber 10, then the descent of the air control valve 14 Willhave brought the portway 15 into registration With the port openings 16-17. The parts being in this position, therefore, it follows that the compressedl air -line is now open and, providing the inlet section 20 is open to its source of supply, the operating pressure fluid will flow down the section 2O and up the section 21, discharging from the latter above the volume of water in the displacement chamber, and functioning asa Huid piston head will force the water down towards the bottom of the displacement chamber and up the discharge pipe 12.

1When the charge of water has been substantially exhausted, the head of air will start to escape initially up the discharge pipe 12 through its bottom opening, and this initial relief will cause the pressure within the displacement chamber to beco-me less than the water pressure outside, whereupon the valvular parts will be automatically elevated by the water from the outside rushingin through the inlet 11 to lil-l the displarement chamber again. As the valvular parts start to rise, the registration between the portway 15 and the port openings 16-17 is closed and the pressure fluid line cut oil', but registration between the portway 15 and the port openings 18-19 is established to open the reliefv line, so that the head of air above the incoming water escapes down the 'section 22 and up the sectionl 23, escaping into the water discharge pipe 12. The pipe 12 may have a check valve (not shown) disposed above thea entrance of the relief section 23, to prevent the column of water thereabove from descending below -the same.

`When the displacement,chamber has been vagain refilled, the-same cycle of operations will be repeated, anud it is obvious that these automatic pulsating-actuations will continue indefinitely, as long as the pressure line section 20 is in open communication with its source of supply maintained under sufficiently high pressure, and as long as theexit end of the discharge pipe 12 is not closed. By a suitable valvular control ofthe latter, however, such as faucets in reduced branch lines, pumping could be controlled from thedischarge outlet pipe, mak- ,ing the invention applicable for use in any pressureY line system` as hereinbcfore. re, ferred to.

WYhen associated With a well wherein the water column stands up very ingh. the need of a large'displacement chamber becomes less essential, and, for straight pipe connections, the comparatively smaller dimensioned structure of Figure 5 would doubtless be found fully satisfactory. it being noted that in this arrangement the volume of the displacement chamber strictly speaking, or the portion thereof so functioning, would in reality only embody that area disposed between the top of the casing`10 and the bottom of the pipe 12, which latter in this particular case extends but a very short distance Within the top portion of the chamber 10. In view of the comparatively minor volume of the {iuid piston head established with this construction, it will be obvious that there is no essential need for employing an air relief conduit, as has been illustratedn in (onnection with Figures 1 to 4.

From the foregoing replete description, it y is believed that the full advantages of ymy improvements will be clearly apparent, and while I have thus disclosed certain preferred embodiments of my invention, it may be later found to be expedient or desirable to make somealterations in the structural form and arrangement of the parts, but without departing from the spirit of the invention. It will be understood, therefore, that I do not-necessarily restrict myself to all of the details exactly as disclosed, excepting as they mayv come Within the terms of the ensuing claims, or as when fairly interpreted in the light the specification if necessarv.

That I do claim, as new and patentable,

isz-

1. In pumps of the character disclosed, embodying a displacement chamber providing a liquid inlet and adapted for submersion in a volume of the liquid to be pumped, the combination of a liquid control valve for said inlet operating tolits open position by the exterior liquid pressure thereon and reversel by gravitation upon the liquid filling of said chamber, a liquid discharge conduit leading from said chamber, a valve casing in said chamber and providing complementary ports, an inlet and an outlet conduit section, for an operating pressure Huid, in complementary communication with said ports, the last .said conduit section opening to the upper portion of said chamber, and a pressure control valve providing a portway registering with said ports when said liquid fcontrol valve is closed, the said 'pressure control valve being so connected with said liquid control valve Y that the former is actuated by the latter.

2. In pumps of the character disclosed, embodying aI displacement chamber providing a liquid inlet and adapted for submersion in a volume .of the liquid to be pumped, the combination of a valve casing in said (hamb'er and providing' complementaryA ports, an inlet and an outlet conduit section, for an operating pressure fluid, in complementary communication with said ports, the last said conduit section opening to the upper portion of said chamber, a liquid discharge conduit leading from said chamber, a liquid control valve for said inlet disposed in line with said valve casing, operating to its open position by the exterior liquid pressure thereon and being reversely operated by gravitation upon the liquid filling -of said chamber, and a pressure control valve, housed by said valve casing, providing a portway which registers with said ports lao when said liquid control valve is closed, the 13 i said pressure control valve being so connectcharge conduit leading. from said chamber, a valve casing in said chamber andprovid ing an upper and a lower set of complementary ports, an inlet and an outlet conduit section, for an operating pressure fluid, in complementary communication with one set of said ports, the last said conduit section opening to the upper portion of said chamz ber, an inlet and an outlet conduit sectionI` for rellevmg the air pressure 1n sald chamber, in complementary communication With the other said set of ports, said relief inlet section opening to the upper portion of said chamber and said relief outlet section communicating with said discharge conduit, and a pressure control valve providin ports, the said ressure control valve being so connected wlth said liquid controlvalve that the former is actuated by the latter.

4. In pumps of the character disclosed, embodying a displacement chamber providing a liquid inlet and adapted forsubmersion in a volume of the liquid to be pumped, the combination of a liquid discharge conduit leading from said chamber, a valve casing in `said chamber and providing an upper and a lower set of complementary ports, an inlet and an outlet conduit section, for an operating pressure fluid, in complementary communication with one set of said ports,

the last said conduit section opening to the upper ortion of said chamber, an inlet and an out et conduit section, for relieving the air pressure in said chamber, in complementary communication with the other said set of ports, said relief inlet section opening to the upper portion of said chamber and said relief outlet section communicating with said discharge conduit, ya liquid Acontrol a port-- Way alternately registering with said lsets ofy valve' for said inlet disposed in line with said valve casing,voperat1n to its 'open position by the exterior liquid pressure thereon and lbeing reversel operated by gravitation upon the liquid lling of said chamber, and a pressure control valve, housed byV said valve casing, providing a portway which alternately registers with said sets of ports, the said pressure control valve being so connected with said liquid control valve that the former is colncidently actuated. by the latter. v

5. In pumps of the character` disclosed, embodying a displacement chamber providsion in a volume of the liquid to be pumped, the combination of a liquid discharge con- -duit leading from said chamber, an operating pressure fluid line discharging to the upper portion of said chamber, and a prescsure control valve disposed 1n said pressure fluid line within said chamberwhich pressure control valve also provides a liquid inlet control valve associated with said liquid inlet, the Whole said valvularstructure being actuatedin one direction by the exterior liquid pressure thereon and being actuated in the reverse direction by gravitation upon the liquid lilling ofsaid chamber.

6. In pumps of the character disclosed, embodying a displacement 'chamber providing a liquid inlet 'and adapted for submersion-in a volume of the liquid to be pumped, the combination of a liquid discharge conduitleading from said chamber, an operating pressure fluid line. discharging to the upper portion of said chamber, an air relief line open to the upper portion of said chamber and communicating with said'liquid discharge conduit, and a combined pressure control and air relief control valve, disposed in said pressure fluid and air relief lines Within said chamber, which valve also provides a' liquid inlet control valve associ` ated with said liquid inlet,`.the Whole said valvular structure bein actuated in one direction by the exterior iquid pressure thereon and being actuated in the reverse directionA by ygravitation upon the liquid filling ofsaid chamber.

In testimony whereof, I alix my signature.

CHARLES B. PENDLEfloN.

ing a liquid inlet and adapted for submer- Y 

